Hazardous ingredients in batteries

Trust, but verify! A long and winding road to an innovative method

29-Sep-2023 - Although strict limits exist, old types of batteries can still contain too many hazardous ingredients such as mercury, cadmium and lead. The Federal Office for the Environment (FOEN) has therefore launched a control campaign. Empa has laid the foundations for this with a novel tailor-made method ...

Disproving the universal nature of the mercury test

Mercury test of catalysts that has been considered universal for 100 years seems to be ambiguous

26-Oct-2018 - The mercury test of catalysts that has been used and considered universal for 100 years, turned out to be ambiguous. This conclusion was made by a group of scientists including a RUDN chemist. The group confirmed that the test required additional control experiments to verify its results. The ...

Diatom ooze sediments are a large marine mercury sink

Sediments reveal mercury pollution in Antarctica since the beginning of the industrial period

30-Jul-2018 - Mercury has been used and released by humans by multiple processes such as gold and silver mining and emissions of mercury to the atmosphere by coal burning, to name the most important ones. These processes have caused strong enrichment of mercury in the environment especially in aquatic systems. ...

Don't Give the Slightest Chance to Toxic Elements in Medicinal Products

New high-accuracy reference solutions for the SI-traceable measurement

27-Mar-2018 - Lead, cadmium, mercury, and arsenic do not belong in medicinal products. International requirements for the quality of medicines have therefore become more stringent and introduced new control requirements. Hence, it makes sense to use high-accuracy reference solutions with defined contents of ...

Detecting Mercury with Gold

Individual gold nanorods could be used to develop smaller, portable mercury sensors

09-Mar-2017 - Mercury is harmful even in small amounts. Detecting it currently requires expensive equipment. Researchers are working on a faster and cheaper alternative: a portable sensor that can perform a rapid analysis in the field. The key is finding something small and accurate enough to do the job.For ...

Fluorescence method detects mercury contamination in fish

24-Feb-2017 - Researchers from the University of Burgos (Spain) have developed a fluorescent polymer that lights up in contact with mercury that may be present in fish. High levels of the metal were detected in samples of swordfish and tuna. According to the conclusions of another Spanish study, mercury ...

Researcher finds gold - and other metals

Gold sensor is latest in a series of metal-detecting biosensors

22-Feb-2016 - Instead of a pan and a pick ax, prospectors of the future might seek gold with a hand-held biosensor that uses a component of DNA to detect traces of the element in water. The gold sensor is the latest in a series of metal-detecting biosensors under development by Rebecca Lai, an associate ...

Nano-velcro clasps heavy metal molecules in its grips

Researchers develop nano-strips for inexpensive testing of mercury levels in our lakes and oceans with unprecedented sensitivity

11-Sep-2012 - Mercury, when dumped in lakes and rivers, accumulates in fish, and often ends up on our plates. A Swiss-American team of researchers led by Francesco Stellacci at the Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL) and Bartosz Grzybowski at Northwestern University has devised a simple, ...

Nuclear detector: New materials hold promise for better detection of nuclear weapons

19-Sep-2011 - Northwestern University scientists have developed new materials that can detect hard radiation, a very difficult thing to do. The method could lead to a handheld device for detecting nuclear weapons and materials, such as a "nuclear bomb in a suitcase" scenario. "The terrorist attacks of 9/11 ...

New sensor system improves detection of lead, heavy metals

PNNL develops inexpensive portable detection system for rapid, accurate analysis of toxic metals

14-Feb-2008 - The Department of Energy's Pacific Northwest National Laboratory has developed a new rapid, portable and inexpensive detection system that identifies personal exposures to toxic lead and other dangerous heavy metals. The device can provide an accurate blood sample measurement from a simple finger ...